Tuesday, February 11, 2014

I have been wondering if things are ever going to get better for me and my family. Since the grandboy came to live with us, things have been really rough. Rough financially, health-wise, stress-wise, just rough in every kind of way.

I feel like my hubby and I really need some time away from all the day to day stuff for a just little while; some time to reconnect. Finally we are planning a little something and I am more excited than you can imagine. It’s been probably 3 years since we had any real time away. Not sure what we’re going to do or where we’re going to go but, dang it, we’re going somewhere! lol

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, art journaling....and now it’s time to focus on choosing your images, both primary focal images and secondary images.

Here’s a video showing you how I choose images for my art journals:

Here is the video I mention at the beginning of my video above…this great video is from Teesha Moore:

I love how Teesha explains things...so clear and to the point. She makes it all look so easy...and it is, really. You just have to get your brain and thinking out of the way and trust your intuition, then the art will come.

I believe there are a ton of great art journalers out there to learn from and I try to soak it all in. Teesha is a great one to learn from but remember, her method or my method may not be the way you choose to work in your own art journals. This is the point where I encourage you to trust your gut, follow your urges, experiment on the pages, do something crazy or wild in there. You can do anything you want...it’s your art journal.

I’m sure you’ve heard it before but I want to tell you again, there are NO mistakes in art journaling.

“But what if I make a big mess on one/some of my pages?” is something I’ve been asked many times. My answer is very simple...who cares, there will always be more paper. So go and make those messes, then turn the page and make another mess.

Before I close I want to encourage everyone to ask any questions you might have, anything you might wonder about. I want you to be inquisitive...it can lead to some wonderful experiments.

Now, go and enjoy your evening, play in your journal (a lot!), have fun, make some extraordinary messes, and I’ll be back soon with more of the good stuff.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Hi y’all! Sorry for my recent absence...no excuses, life just got in the way as it sometimes will. I’m not very good at juggling too many things these days but I’m still here.

Now, back to art journaling...

Images are such a huge part of my art journals that I am constantly on the lookout for new ones to add to my stash (hoard?) of images. I am definitely a magazine image kind of girl. But you might not be and that’s okay. (There will be times I cover things that won’t necessarily be of use to everyone...just take what you need.)

I do encourage you to read through these posts anyway. Something within these “not for me” kind of posts might spark something in you that you’d not come across in any other way. So much of art journaling is intuitive so just let go and trust your imagination and intuition to lead you in your art journaling journey.

Something I was told years ago that stuck with me is that every piece of art (and your journals ARE art, don’t forget that) should be framed. Frames = borders so think about how you want to “frame” your pages or spreads.

See my framing on it? Two combined borders...darker coloring with my paint AND the lines and dots I drew in that serves to also frames the spread.

Frames and borders serve to make your art look for finished and presentable.

Imagine what this would look like without those two framing aspects....unfinished? boring? lifeless? dull? I’d say it would probably be all of those things in some way.

On the page above, I’ve mixed my borders...washi tape and stamps across the top, collage bits along with magazine images and words around the other three sides. There are no limits to how you can create your borders and frames.

Now you’ve got even more images to work with and more experimenting to try out. Play with all of the different ways of framing your pages...and maybe think up some others I haven’t even thought of, yet.

Slowly your pages are starting to take shape. You’ve gone from the blank page and now you’ve got all sorts of great things going on in your art journal.

Do you think your page needs more layers? more images? more something but you just aren’t quite sure what?

When I'm feeling that way about a particular page or spread, I just keep playing with the different aspects of the page, trying new things. The only thing that says your page is art-filled enough is YOU.

Or many times I move to another page or spread and work on it. I usually have 4-6 separate pages/spreads going at any given time. This way I can skip from page to page to page, doing whatever things are feeling like what I wanted to do at that time. Almost never do I finish a page or spread in one sitting...my pages kind of grow and evolve over time. However you choose to work in your art journal is right.

Remember, this is play so just keep playing and having fun. Don’t sweat it and just let go!

Oh, and in case you haven’t already, I hope that you will all spread the word about what we’re doing here so even more folks join us. Spread the word, y’all...everyone needs access to art journaling and the how-to of it. I hope that you all agree.

Thanks!

I’m not sure what’s next on the agenda but I do know it won’t be so long this time. I promise.